Kuwait Times: Government neglecting industrial engineers

According to a Dec. 25, 2010, story from the Kuwait Times, the head of the Industrial Engineering Department at Kuwait University's Faculty of Engineering said that government recruitment bodies should focus on the industrial engineering major.

"Sadly, the civil services commission and all recruitment bodies in the government don't really understand what industrial engineering is," Dr. Majed Al-Daihani said in a statement issued Dec. 23. "It is a very fascinating major that can improve the quality of work in so many fields in Kuwait."

Al-Daihani clarified that many people immediately associate the IE major with industrial factories, while the academic field deals with the optimization of integrating information, money, work force and other applications in any field.

Al-Daihani said the demand for industrial engineers around the world is pretty high, adding that it is disappointing to find Kuwait lagging behind.

He demanded that the civil services commission modify the job description in its records and research how the presence of industrial engineers can improve work in various government sectors. He added that the department in Kuwait University will organize a campaign to inform various sectors, as well as the media, about this major.

"We have 200 students to date in this department and their overall performance is high. We are very selective about the students in this department and we get a very high number of applicants yearly," he said. Kuwait University adopted this program in 2000 and it gained international academic accreditation in 2002.

The department intends to start a master's degree program in engineering management in order to further their program. "The American University of the Middle East has an industrial engineering program, which only proves that there is demand for graduates in this field.

"World leading governments use the expertise of industrial engineers for its development plans and we have a very hopeful development program here in Kuwait that was proposed by the government last year. We strongly believe that we can have a positive impact on the country's development."